No One Can Walk Alone
by PteraWaters
Summary: After Connor loses his son, how can he move on? How can he find the boy again without Angel's help? And if someone asks for help in his stead, will Connor accept it? Angel/Spike and Fred/Xander shown. Future fic. Limited comics refs. T for language.
1. Bad Decisions

_A/N: This is a future fic in my Vampire/Slayer Archives universe. I explain everything, so you don't need to have read that series to understand what's going on, though it might be entertaining and informative!  
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_I know I have too many fics going at once, but I've been working on this one all day, and I couldn't help but want to post it._

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**No One Can Walk Alone**

Chapter 1 - Bad Decisions

"Con," my sister hissed at me from across the aisle, peeking around old boxes of Uncle Ben's rice and stacks of canned tomatoes. "Let's go back. There's nothing here for us."

"Joy," I growled, sick of her damn pessimism, "I came out today to kill a basilisk, and that's what the fuck I'm gonna do."

"Shit, Connor," she shot back, one eye on me and one down the main thoroughfare of the store, at the end of which, said basilisk sat, munching on frozen chicken sticks and pizzas. "You're not Dad, as much as you try to be. We need more! That spell..."

"Can't do the spell," I told her, for the thousandth time. "Not since we lost Brian."

"Then we need to back off, you prick!" she hissed, clamping her mouth shut when the monster started and turned, listening. After a moment, it went back to crunching around in the freezer section and Joy continued, "We need a different bloody plan! Please, Con? I can't lose you over somethin' this stupid."

Sitting back and letting my head fall against the shelves behind me, I sighed and asked Joyce, "Have you been talking to him again?"

Mimicking my posture and holding her slingshot close to her chest, Joyce frowned and said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Spike," I muttered, running two fingers along the flat side of my blade, testing the keen sharpness. "You've been talking to him behind my back, Joy. You always sound a little more like him afterwards."

"This is fucking bullshit, Connor," she spat, brushing the light brown hair out of her eyes. "I know when everything went down and we all chose sides I went with you. And I know why I did. But, Con? I miss Daddy. So I talk to him when I can get a signal."

"Does Dad know you're talking to Spike?" I asked gruffly, scratching my fingers through my three-day-old beard and wondering when any of it would start to go grey. Thirty-nine years old, give or take, and still no signs of aging. Hell, I'm old enough to be Joyce's father, but I barely look five years older than her. I know I'm mortal, that's not in question. Not after what happened with Katie. But how long until this mortality caught up with me? A hundred years? Two hundred? Would Joyce even last that long? Would I? This basilisk was a tough motherfucker – that I was sure of. He could have both of us dead and gone in a heartbeat, so maybe Joy was right. Maybe we should have backed off and tried another strategy. I wished I still had that rocket launcher from two months ago. That baby had been sweet.

"Don't think so," Joy replied to my question. "Daddy says Dad couldn't see a herd of elephants right under his nose unless they were wearing blonde wigs and screaming bloody murder. But you know how he likes to lie."

I chuckled, suddenly missing Spike's sense of humor in a way I hadn't in the almost three years since I'd last seen either vampire. "Fine," I whispered over to Joy, craning to take one last look at the monster. "We'll find another way." I got to my feet lightly, feeling just as nimble as I had twenty some years ago, when I truly was The Destroyer back on Quor'toth, and signaled Joy to do the same.

Carefully, we backed out of the abandoned supermarket, going exactly the way we came and fleeing silently. Even if the basilisk did latch onto our scents, he wouldn't be able to track us long. Not long enough to follow us back home, in any case.

Home those days was Cleveland, Ohio, where you'll find the last active Hellmouth on Earth. Funny thing about Hellmouths is that they're all connected. And once you shut down one, all that evil energy just starts bubbling out the others. Angel, that bastard, should have known what he and Buffy and Spike were doing. But the Powers, in their infinite and misguided wisdom, sought to unbalance things, to make things worse down here on earth so they'd have more glory in the fixing of it. Too bad their plans killed Buffy, causing Spike to get rid of his visions for good and thus sever their link, through him, to Angel. Now everything here in Cleveland was Hell on Earth, only contained by a shit ton of mages on the outside and Demon Hunters like me and Joy on the inside. We were born to do this, to rid the world of evil creatures, because we're two of them. Oh sure, Joy and I both have souls, me thanks to our dad, and her thanks to both Dad and her mother, Buffy. But we're not human. Not completely.

And that's one of the reasons we stick together, letting Angel and Spike run their little army of slayers on the outside, while we protect humanity from what's here, on the inside.

The last compatriot that we had here on the inside, Brian, was a warlock. And Joy's boyfriend. When he died, eaten by a mob of fast-moving locust demons, I thought maybe she'd crumble. But Joy, like me, has been around death all her life. Shit, she barely remembers her mother, who died almost fifteen years ago, when she was five. And I? Well, I lost the true love of my life in the Global War of 2018, eight years later. Fuck has it been that long? Seven years since she's been gone? Five years since _he's_ been gone?

She was Tammy. Tamera. My wife. She was a slayer, like Buffy, and like all fucking slayers, she had a death wish. I should have known. Tam was too proud for her own good and though she was a brilliantly talented warrior, she too fell. Just like all the rest of them.

The only ones who don't die, who don't leave us in fucking peace, are those who are already dead. Angel and Spike. Gunn. Lung Bao. Iona. These are our undead. Our souled-vampire warriors. Last I heard, they were all still stationed out of Scotland, and I know that's where Joy wishes we could be. Back among family, back where she grew up. But she's a good sister; she sticks by me. She believed me when I said my son, Daniel, was still alive.

Angel, patriarch and righteous son of a bitch, went along with it for awhile, helping me lead the search. But eventually, two years later, he turned on me. He said enough was enough and we just had to accept the fact that Danny was gone. I just think he never forgave me for naming my son after my foster father, Daniel Holtz, Angel's most hated enemy and the man that stole me from him as a baby. But though I grew to love Angel and think of him well and truly as my father, I never forgot the man who shaped me into the warrior I am. Of course, Spike sided with him, when a line in the sand had to be drawn. Those two have been inseparable for twenty years, and nothing's prying them apart now.

So I left Scotland to find my son, and Joy came with me at the ripe old age of seventeen. Ostensibly it was to keep an eye on me, her big brother, but it was also because she wanted the adventure, I think. She may not be related to Spike by blood, but God damn did she pick up chunks of his personality. The need for a good fight, the swagger in her step, the surprising sensitivity. Everything about her sounds and feels and sometimes even smells like Spike, except for her smile. That's pure Angel, through and through.

As we got closer to base camp, I asked Joy again, "When did you last talk to Spike?"

"Jesus," she swore, rolling her eyes at me as we walked. "It was, like, Thursday, Con. Okay?"

"I just thought we agreed a long time ago not to talk to them."

Huffing and pulling up her arms around her chest, Joy said, "I get why you don't want to talk to them, I do. And I'm still mad at Dad for what he said to you. But, I miss them."

"Spike especially?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Dad can be a real tool, but Daddy? He listens to us, Con. He's just too damn attached to Dad to do anything about it."

"And therein lies the problem," I pointed out, unlocking the wards around base camp so we could get in.

"How long is this going to go on?"

"You know," I told her, relocking the wards behind us and following Joy into the common area.

"Yeah, yeah," she said, flopping down onto an old couch heavily. "When we find Danny, we'll go back. I just don't know what killing this fuckin' snake-beast has to do with getting him back."

"You know that spell I told you about?" I asked, meaningfully.

"The inter-dimentional scrying spell?" Joy asked with a chuckle. "Yeah, I remember. It's all you've been talking about for the past month, Connor."

"Well, one of the ingredients is basilisk eye."

"Gross," she replied, setting the rest of her gear down on the floor at her feet.

"Yeah," I agreed, "but this is the only way I can find Danny. The only thing left."

"If it works," she said, rubbing her face with one hand, "and we figure out where he is, can we call in help? I'll follow you anywhere Connor, but I'd rather it wasn't a suicide mission."

"We'll see," I said angrily, walking away from her and back toward my room. She was getting worse about working on our own, and I'm sure Brian's death had something to do with it. She may not have broken when she lost him, but that didn't mean it wasn't affecting her. I knew her, better than anyone else these days, and I could tell she was close to abandoning me, too. Close to abandoning this mission and trying to find another somewhere else. What I didn't ever tell Joy was that if she gave up, the search for Danny would be over, and that would probably kill me.

Angel told me about how he dealt after Holtz took me away from him, like he knew exactly what I was going through. And maybe he did, for the first few weeks. But after the first year, and then the second? There's no way Angel could know the depth of desperation I was clinging to those days, or the absolute, overwhelming need to know the truth, to know exactly what had happened to Danny, whether or not I could get him back. And that desperation had led me here, to the Hellmouth.

I hated sitting around and waiting. I hated trying to come up with a better plan when there is no better plan. I hated living like this, from one fight to the next, one failed attempt after another, with no real purpose in the meantime. I hated being The Destroyer and still being unable to find my son. So later that night, when Joy was asleep, I slipped away from camp alone, making sure she couldn't follow.

Moving swiftly and silently through the night, a skill I inherited from my vampire parents and honed under Holtz's guidance, I tracked down the basilisk. It had moved on from the grocery store and had been making its way south, toward the University campus and one of the last vampire holdouts in town. Though Joy and I were good and we killed more and more demons every day, trying to keep things clear so that we could find where those bastards took my son, they just kept coming. See, the Hellmouth spits out new evils, like the recent resurgence of vampires, every day. And we just keep fighting.

Only one city on earth was still overrun with demons, and it was a good track record. After the wars seven and fifteen years ago, we're lucky to have come this far. And most of that good luck was due to Buffy's sacrifice. God, it took years and years for Spike and Angel to get over losing her like that. But I guess they have what you'd call a happy ending, more or less. Their lives don't really have a natural _ending_ point, so maybe they have a happy continuance. Shit, I'm not even sure _my_ life has a natural ending point.

Maybe that's why it's comforting going after this Basilisk alone. Despite my good health and lack of noticeable age, the only thing I've got left to live for is the slim chance that my son is still alive somewhere. Might as well go for broke here and now, rather than spend half an eternity wondering what might have been. I've already done enough of that thinking and I won't be able to stop. Not until this is finished and I know either way.

When I finally found the monster, after following its scent all over town, I found it lounging in a dried up fountain, playing with how the dead leaves beneath it scuffled and crumbled.

Deciding there was no time like the present, I pulled out my longbow, fitting it with a heavy duty silver-tipped arrow and drawing back. I made one tiny noise, a little cluck to get the snake to look my way and, closing my eyes to avoid its gaze, let my arrow loose. Two more arrows followed in rapid succession, and I heard them all squelch satisfyingly into flesh. Stowing my bow and drawing my sword, I stalked out of my hiding place and toward the still-twitching creature, keeping my eyes lowered carefully.

I got as close as I dared, going in for the kill, when suddenly the beast reared back to life, knocking me down with its tail. Its fangs poised to strike and I moved to roll out of the way, praying that even though I was sick of living, this wouldn't be the end of me. I still had to find him. If nothing else, I had to find my son.

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	2. Trapped

**No One Can Walk Alone**

Chapter 2 - Trapped

As I lay in my bed that night, I thought about lots of things, but mostly about how much I missed my parents. This mission with Connor was supposed to be about growing up and about figuring out who I was independent of them. It was an adventure, away from family and safety nets. And I don't even think Connor expected it to go on for three years.

The worst part was, he didn't seem to care that so much time had passed. All Con cared about was finding Danny, like that would be the be all and end all of his problems. At this point, I wasn't even sure finding my nephew would help him. He was just too … depressed all the time.

I wished I would have thought about it more before following Connor out the door. I wished I would have realized that Dad was doing what he thought was best for everyone. I wished Daddy would have agreed to come with us, despite Dad's hardheaded line in the sand. I wished I could hug them both, snuggle between them like I did when I was little and just fall asleep. I wished Brian was still here and that I didn't keep shedding tears over him every night. It was stupid, really. We'd only been together three months before he died.

And I should have been used to losing loved ones, right? Mom, my sister Katie, though I really don't remember either of them, Aunt Dawn, Giles, my sister-in-law, Tam. And Danny, who felt more like a younger brother to me than a nephew. There were more. Friends and relatives lost to this battle. The battle I was born to fight, just like Con. Just like Katie, if she had made it that far.

It was too much and I wanted to go home, just for a moment, so I picked up my phone and called Daddy.

"'lo, luv," he answered sleepily, and I tried to remember what time it was there. "Can't sleep?"

"Yeah," I told him sheepishly. He may not be one of my biological parents, but Daddy helped raise me from day one, and I missed how well he knew me. "Did I wake you up?"

"Yeah, but it's alright, pumpkin," he replied, and I heard shuffling noises that must have meant he was getting out of bed. "Almost time to get up anyway. Might wake your dad in a few," he said, lecherously and I could almost see him wiggle his eyebrows mischievously.

"Ew," I replied with a little laugh. "You know, most parents are kind enough not to divulge that information to their children."

"What can I say, pet," Daddy replied, his voice getting louder as I heard him shut a door. He must be out in the sitting room now, flopping down on the couch in front of the TV. "I've never been kind."

"Bollocks," I cried. "You're the kindest vampire there's ever been."

"Well, glad to know you think so highly of me," he said with a brash sniff. "Though a vamp might think you're callin' him soft."

"Well, you do sleep with Dad..." I teased him.

"Ouch, pet," he laughed. "Goin' for the whole nancy boy angle, then?"

"Never hurts to pick the low-hanging fruit first."

"Joy," he growled, and I knew it was his posturing growl, "I'd kick your ass if you weren't so bloody far away."

"You'd try," I smirked, posturing right back at him.

"God, not even a bloody slayer and the chit thinks she can take me."

"Hey," I sighed, losing momentum. "I learned from the best."

"Mmm," Daddy hummed in agreement, letting a few moments of silence pass. Then, he asked, "How's your brother?"

I sighed, trying to think of an answer that fit, but wasn't so depressing as the truth.

"That bad?"

"Getting worse. I thought he might have been ready to call it quits," I told Daddy, "but then he found out about this spell…"

"Bloody hell," he replied. "Without someone trained in magic there to help you, this is gonna be a bloody disaster."

"I know," I whispered quietly. Then, I heard Connor moving around the apartment, opening the front door and locking me back inside. "Shit."

"What is it, luv?" Daddy asked as I got out of bed and pulled on my shoes and a jacket.

"He's gone back after the basilisk without me." I ran up to the front door, only to find Connor had secured it from the outside. "Fuck! He locked me in so I couldn't follow!"

"Oh, pet," Daddy whispered soothingly. "Calm down. He's not gonna be followed if he doesn't want, even if you could get free, yeah?"

"It's a suicide mission, though! God damn it," I cried, shaking with fury as I slid down the inside of the door. "Stupid bloody fucking bastard!" Connor was going to get himself killed. And then it was going to be just me, yeah and some slayers if I needed them, keeping this Hell in check. It was too much, too sad, and too utterly pathetic of Con to go out like this.

"Joy..."

Making up my mind once and for all, I told Daddy, "Put Dad on the line. I want to talk to him."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," I growled. "I'm fucking sure!"

"Alright, luv, alright," he replied defensively. "But if he dusts me for waking him up, it's your fault, pet."

"Disclaimer received," I agreed. "Just put him on."

Daddy covered the mouthpiece of his phone and I heard muffled voices for a few minutes until that mistakable sound of Dad clearing his throat came over the line. "Joyce," he said coolly, the first word he'd spoken to me directly in almost three years. Then, I heard a smack and Dad complained, "Ow! … I mean … Hi, peanut."

"Hi, Dad," I replied, wondering now that I had him on the phone, could I go through with the conversation?

"How…" he sighed, shuffled around a bit, and asked, "How are you?"

"Alright, I guess," I told him.

"I'm sorry about Brian."

Surprised, I asked, "Daddy told you?" I didn't know Dad knew that we talked, much less that he might even care what Daddy and I talked about.

"Yeah," he sighed. "I'm … glad you wanted to talk to me."

"Been awhile, huh?" I replied, my heart hurting at how nice it was to hear his voice. For years, I'd had those last few words of his in my head, snarled out in anger. After awhile I'd realized that he didn't mean them, but by then, it was too late to convince Connor to go back, or even to call.

"Almost three years," Dad agreed. "Though Spike's been keeping me updated. So thanks, for talking to him at least."

"Con didn't want me to," I confessed. "He didn't even know for the longest time."

"I taught you well?" he asked, and I could hear the little smile in his voice.

Thinking of all the things I'd learned about stealth growing up with vampires as fathers, I told him, "Yeah, Dad, you did."

There was a long silence, as I tried to find the words I needed. Finally, I came out and said, "I can't protect him anymore."

"You want to come home?" Dad asked hopefully.

"I wanted to come home after the first week, Dad. But, I literally _can't_ protect Connor anymore. Not when he insists on doing these suicidal missions without me."

Dad sighed, and then just put it out there. "Are you asking me for something?"

Taking a deep shuddering breath, and trying not to cry, I said in a small voice, "I'm asking you to come, Dad. Please? Come help?"

"I'm on my way right now," he insisted, above the shuffling and knocking around noises on the other end of the connection. "Do you think I should bring anyone else?"

"Daddy?" I suggested.

Dad laughed, "I meant besides him. I couldn't leave Spike behind. Let me tell you, I've tried for the past twenty years and it just doesn't take."

I laughed, wiping a few tears away from my face, knowing that Dad didn't mean it. He just says those things to tease. It was nice, knowing that things between them, at least, were the same. That not too much had changed in the time I'd spent away from home. "I don't know who else. I don't even know if Connor's gonna survive the night, Dad." A sob broke through again, and though I tried to hide it from him, I heard Dad breathe in sharply, which he almost never does.

"Shh," he whispered. "Just hang on, sweetheart. We'll be there soon, okay?"

"Call me again when you're in the air?"

"I don't know if we…" His voice grew louder as he yelled at Daddy, "Hon? Do these things work on airplanes?"

"We've a satellite hub in the plane, ponce," I heard Daddy reply, his voice growing close. "And have for up on ten years now."

"So…?"

"It'll work." I laughed at the exchange, so reminiscent of growing up with them, and comforting. "Gimme the phone, luv," Daddy continued and there was more scraping and shuffling. "Pet?"

"Yeah, Daddy?"

"Be safe, yeah?"

"Ta," I whispered, trying not to lose it again. "I'm just … I don't think I've ever been this scared before."

"Not even when we went up against that giant?"

"Pft," I scoffed. "That mofo was a wuss."

Daddy laughed, a full, deep-throated bark of amusement, and I couldn't help but join him. "We'll be there right quick if Fred can come."

"Alright," I agreed, banging my head back against the door behind me. "See you soon?"

"Aye, pumpkin. Soon."

When the line went dead, I sighed again, clunking my head back against the door several more times. How could Connor do this to me? My biggest fear was that he'd really just given up and wanted it to end. Like, he wasn't just taking stupid risks on the chance that he'd find his son, but was taking them with the hope that something would finally put him out of his misery.

Fuck.

He used to be so happy, when I was little, especially. He was happy with his job in Scotland, working with our father. He was in love, and married Tam when I was eight. She died five years later, and that's when everything went downhill. And then, Danny got taken, on his way to school here in Cleveland, where they lived at the time. He was only seven when he was taken, and the slayer protecting him was killed. Connor always blamed himself for being too busy to drive Danny to school that day, even though I'm sure it would have been him dead, rather than Holly.

If Danny was still alive, and if time ran the same where he was as it did here, Danny would be twelve. Would he even remember any of us? Would he know us as his family? Five years was a long time when you were that young. Hell, five years was a long time when you were a teenager and your almost-brother nephew went missing and your whole family really started falling apart.

I couldn't just sit still anymore. I couldn't! So, I went looking for something I could use to bust the door open. I might not be as strong as Con, or Dad, or even a slayer, but I was close. I could figure it out. There! In Connor's workshop, was a crowbar. He was always ordering new weapons somehow, and they came in these big wooden crates he had to open. I didn't know where we got our money, and I wasn't sure that I wanted to ask. Somehow, I'd always figured it came from Dad, or maybe Daddy was helping us somehow. Con didn't really have any other friends in Slayer Central. Not anymore. And he asked me over and over again not to call Dad, not to talk to him or let him know where we were. At the time, still angry with how things played out, I'd agreed.

What can I say? I was seventeen and fiercely loyal to my brother. I didn't understand why Dad wanted him to give up. I guess now, I did.

So, I took the crowbar to the door and tried to pry it open. Unfortunately, Con had welded heavy steel plates and locks on it, seeing as we were living in Hell. I tried once more, pulling with all my strength, and the damn thing shocked me! Physically shocked me flat on my ass with a bolt of numbing electricity.

"Fuck!" I cried again, laying back on the floor and rubbing my tingling arm. "What if there was a fire, Con?" I yelled into the empty apartment. "Bloody hell!"

Eventually after a while of just lying there, feeling sorry for myself, my phone rang, and I hoped it was Connor, telling me he was okay and he was sorry. But the display said otherwise. Flipping open the video screen and camera, I answered the call, saying, "Hey, Daddy."

He smiled at me, sharp eyeteeth flashing as he said, "Hullo, Joyce. Still trapped?"

"My _brother_ booby trapped the door!" I told him, huffing in frustration as I sat up. "I can't even pry it open without risking bloody cardiac arrest!"

"Tough love?" Daddy suggested and I laughed ruefully.

"You're in the plane?" I asked.

"Yep," he nodded, pointing his phone around quickly so I could see.

"Hi everyone," I called out, trying to process the quick-moving image. When Daddy pointed me back toward him, I asked, "Who's coming with you?"

"Fred," he replied, sneering as he said the next name, "and _Xander_. Faith. Rita. Bethany. The usual."

"The A-team?" I asked, and I heard a laugh in the background.

"Damn straight!" Faith's voice carried over the line.

Daddy laughed, pointing off screen, presumably at her, and then turned back to look at me, his amusement dissolving. "We've got the local slayers on the inside, luv. They're lookin' for him."

"They know how to handle a basilisk, right?"

Suddenly the view swished around and I was looking at Dad, for the first time in three years. "They've been briefed," he assured me. "They'll find him."

"You don't know that," I moped and Dad frowned, his big brow furrowing up, exactly the same as when I'd been little. It struck me that, unless I got that whole prolonged youth like Connor, in a few years, I'd look older than both my fathers. Weird.

Dad looked away and sighed before turning back. It took him a few tries, but eventually he said, "It's good to see you, Joy."

"Yeah," I whispered, nodding and looking away for a moment. "Yeah, you too, Dad."

"I've got to hang up so Fred can get us going quicker. But where's your safehouse?"

I gave him directions, praying that the line was secure. There were some smart demons out there, and Con and I had hidden our apartment for a reason. "Bring Bethany so she can remove the wards."

"Alright. We'll all be there soon," he insisted. "Okay?"

God, the way he looked at me with such sympathy and guilt, it was enough to set me off again. Looking up to try to drain the tears before they fell, I sniffed and nodded. "Soon."

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	3. Finding Her

**No One Can Walk Alone**

Chapter 3 - Finding Her

Angel hung up before I could talk to Joyce again, but I guess I couldn't blame him for not thinking of me. He knew I'd been speaking with Joy since the first time she called, six months after the two of 'em up and buggered off, but that didn't mean he'd been happy about it. In fact, except for sex, he hadn't really talked to me for a good week after I told him. Bastard. I hate it when he gets all moody-like, though I should probably be used to it by now.

It was better before, when he was happy. Not that everything has ever been all sunshine and daisies, yeah? But when Buffy was with us, it made him feel complete. Kinda sucked knowing I wasn't enough for him, but I came to terms with it right quick. Besides, it'd been fifteen years since she left us, since she'd done what I'd been fearing she would for seven years and sacrificed herself again. Bloody martyr complex that one. Death was her gift! Bloody pain in the ass, loving a slayer. And in those fifteen years, Angel had learned to accept that I was all he got.

I knew he loved me, and I knew he didn't ask for anything more, but Buffy was the bloody love of his whole existence, and it was difficult following an act like that. Sometimes I'd catch him staring off into space, this hurt so deep in his heart that when I could feel what he was feeling, when we'd fed from each other often enough, it was bloody torture.

I kept telling myself, maybe in a few more years. Maybe then he'd get over her and we could learn how to be happy again. Maybe Joy and Connor would come back. Maybe we'd find Danny. And maybe he'd finally forgive himself for what happened to Katherine. Fucking brute broods with the best of 'em, though. And I swear, if he wasn't still the best bloody lay I'd ever had, I'd think about … Okay, that was a lie. I'd never leave him. No matter how much it hurt.

Besides, a little part of me kinda liked it when it hurt.

Fred let Illyria do her mojo and though it didn't feel like anything was different, our whole plane slipped through time so fast that we made it from Scotland to Cleveland in about forty-five minutes. Relatively. It wore the lass out right fierce, but she knew it was for Connor, so Fred didn't mind.

We landed outside the hell-perimeter that our allies here in Ohio set up, and the pilot, a slayer, pulled right into the hangar. Angel knocked on the door to the cockpit, saying when it opened, "Thanks, Yeung."

"It is no problem," she replied in a thick Asian accent, smiling as Xander helped Fred past us. "Patti and I will guard the plane?"

"If you don't mind," Angel nodded, waving to the co-pilot. "I'll call you when we know what's going on."

"Aye, aye," she agreed, throwing a punch at me as soon as Angel's back was turned.

"Oi," I smirked, grabbing her fist. "Not this time, slayer."

Yeung laughed, reclaiming her hand and pointing one finger at me teasing, "One of these days, vampire. One of these days."

I chuckled at her once more and waved, following my partner and the rest of our crew to one of the vehicles stashed there in the hangar, complete with sunlight-proof glass and everything.

Faith hopped into the driver's seat, smiling brightly when Angel glared at her and took the passenger side, while Rita unplugged the car from the wall and the rest of us climbed in the back.

"Alright people," Faith called, starting the engine as Rita hopped in, crawling to sit beside me in the far back seat, "let's have us a good day."

Fred slumped against Xander, her husband and snored, tired out from holding the time-slip all the way here. Bethany pulled a tablet out of her bag and started paging though a text, looking for something. Up front Angel huffed and beside me Rita smacked my arm with a big grin.

"Happy to be seein' your kids, Spike?" she asked me, pulling a serious face that must have mimicked the one I wore. I would have checked in the window, but you know. _Vampire_.

"Hoping we'll find them alive, actually. And Connor's not mine."

"Oh," she buckled her seatbelt and smacked my arm again, "he's just about. And little Joy, all grown up! I can't wait to see them."

"Reets," I replied, settling back in my seat and crossing my arms over my chest, "If you hit on either of my kids, I'll have to kill you."

"Ah, ha!" she cried victoriously. "Got you to admit it!"

Shaking my head at her wide grin and raising one eyebrow, I asked, "What's put you in such a good mood?" Subtly I inhaled, "Ah. You got laid last night."

"Fuck, Spike!" she cried, hitting me again, but still grinning. "I hate that creepy vamp shit."

I leaned toward her and sniffed again, keeping my eyes with hers, "You tramp! Kevin Byrnes again! I thought you hated him, just two weeks ago?"

"I never hated him," she replied, tightening the bun of dark black hair at the base of her skull. "I was simply angry at him for flirting with my partner. It's so much better this time."

"If you say so," I shrugged, trying to listen in as Faith and Angel argued about how best to follow Joy's instructions. "None of my never mind if you're still acting like a teenager."

"Hey," Rita growled, poking me in the arm this time, "I'm recently widowed. Now that I'm done grieving, I'm allowed to act like a teenager for awhile."

"Sure you are, luv," I replied, wondering how Joy was doing. "Should we check on the daughter?" I asked Rita, mostly trying to get her to settle down.

"Oh, right," she nodded, slightly cowed at the mention of our mission. "Let's do that."

I opened up the little machine and made the call, relieved when Joy answered groggily, giving me that patented Angelus half-smirk when she realized it was me. "Hi, Daddy. You almost here?"

"Fall asleep, luv?" I asked with a smile, chuckling a bit as Rita tried to get into frame, waving cheerily.

"Well, yeah," she nodded, yawning. "Hey, Rita. How's it going?"

"Better," the slayer replied, her smile dampening a little.

"Oh, that's right," Joy replied, her Buffy-like eyebrows furrowing and her lip pouting out. "Daddy told me about what happened to Madison. I'm so sorry for your loss."

Rita shrugged. "We all gotta go sometime, right?"

"Uh-huh," Joy replied, looking down. "Let's just hope Connor doesn't go today, yeah?"

Rita nodded, tilting the camera back towards me. "I think we'll be there soon," I told her. Looking up toward the front, I called, "Hey, Ange? What's our ETA?"

"Bout twenty minutes," Faith called back at me, "depending on how long it takes us to cross the border."

"You hear that, luv?" I asked Joy, looking back down at her image.

"Yeah," she said, looking behind her. "Shit. I've gotta clean up."

"Got some things around the house you wouldn't rather your Da saw?"

"No," she drawled slowly, shaking her head and winking at me quickly. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Daddy."

I laughed, returning the wink. "We'll see you soon, pet."

"Thanks, Daddy," Joy nodded and hung up, going off to hide whatever she thought Angel wouldn't want to see.

* * *

While Spike called our daughter in the back seat, laughing with her about something, I radioed Cleveland dispatch, telling the operator, "This is Angel. Have your people found Connor yet?"

"Yeah, target has been located," she replied, using that military jargon that Xander was so keen on teaching all the girls.

"And?"

"No word yet. Operatives have engaged the threat, but have not yet reported back."

"Fuck," I whispered.

"What was that, sir?"

"Nothing," I replied. "Contact me the moment you hear something, okay?"

"Affirmative, sir," the girl replied.

"Oh, and if you can, send me the coordinates for the battle."

"Gotcha."

Sighing, I hung up the radio mouthpiece on the dash, peering out the windows at the rapidly approaching dawn.

"Don't worry, Deadboy," Faith muttered beside me, "we'll find 'em."

"But will we find them in time?" I asked, giving her a small smile of gratitude. She didn't have to come with. She could have stayed in Scotland to keep an eye on everything. I mean, technically, she was the Senior Slayer, even if she hated being in charge most of the time.

"That's where the prayin' comes in," she smirked, keeping her eyes on the road except for a quick glance in my direction.

"And the praying," I replied, "that Connor won't try to kill me when we do find him."

"We'll keep you safe, tiger," Faith insisted, pulling up to the tollbooth that marked the border between safe Cleveland and the hell-on-earth Cleveland beyond. The official story was that a toxic accident had occurred and would take many years to clean up, only professionals allowed inside. It's amazing what you can accomplish when one of your slayers is the daughter of the Secretary of Defense. Greases the wheels, so to speak.

"Hey, Giovani!" Faith greeted the guard, reaching out her window to slap the guy's hand. "How's the weather inside today?"

"Dark," the man replied, flipping up his sunglasses. "Should be nice for you, eh, boss?" he asked, peering over towards me.

"Yeah," I replied sarcastically. "Nice."

Gio shrugged and grabbed a sticker from his pile, peeling off the backing and affixing it to the driver's side door so we could get through the barriers. "Alright, ladies and gents," he called into the car, leaning quite close to Faith. "You know the drill. All windows and doors closed until you reach the other side of No-Man's-Land. From there, have your guard up at all times. Demon activity has been on the rise for the past three months, so fair warning."

"Thanks, Gio," Faith smiled, rolling up her window when he stepped back. "Everybody ready? Disneyland here we come!"

And then she stepped on the gas, breaking through the first barrier, which was invisible, but incredibly disturbing, like pushing your way through electric gelatin, if that makes any sense. The fifty yards between that barrier and the next were completely dead. Nothing alive grew there, and nothing dead could get there, so it became empty soon after the barriers were erected.

The second was just as disturbing as the first, especially when Spike called up to me, "Hey, Angel! We gotta get us one of these for at home. Makes me all tingly."

"In your dreams, _cor_," I called back to him, knowing he was joking. Or, hoping he was joking in any case. Ugh…

And then, we were in Hell. Most of the buildings were crumbled or defaced in some way as Faith weaved down the main road from the tollbooth. Usually the Cleveland team kept it pretty clear, but debris and dead demon bodies littered the pavement, evident of the 'increased demon activity' that Gio had mentioned.

"Nasty," Faith whispered, sneering and brushing her rapidly graying hair out of her face. "See, this is why I like vamps. You guys dust all neat-like."

"Thanks," I replied, giving her a short look before setting my eyes back out, searching for danger.

"Joy's place isn't too far off the main road," Faith told us, pointing to the electronic map in the dash between us. "But we will have to walk the last hundred yards or so."

"Sometimes I forget," Fred spoke up, rubbing her eyes, "that you helped set all this up, Faith."

"Yeah, well," the slayer replied, brushing away the observation. "A gig's a gig."

We rolled through the streets, dodging more and more debris as we went, getting closer and closer to the last Hellmouth. I could tell that the sun was coming up on the other side of the barrier, but you could barely tell the difference in here, probably due to the black clouds of brimstone ash blocking all the sunlight. It was depressing, and also nice, because it meant Spike and I could walk around during the day without getting fried. I don't think, since the barriers went up, that anyone had ever seen sunlight hit the ground in here. It made me sad for how Joy and Connor had been living lately.

"End of the line, kiddies," Faith said, putting the van in park and jumping out. "Let's hope Big Bad doesn't see us here today."

As the rest of us piled out, Faith opened the back doors and rooted around the space behind Spike and Rita's seats. In a moment, she lifted the lid of a weapons case, selecting a sharp battle axe and stepping aside so the rest of us could arm ourselves.

As we gathered around, still vigilant for danger, Spike laced my free hand in his, squeezing to comfort me and whispering, "It'll be over soon, luv. Everything'll be as right as rain."

"Thanks for lying to me," I replied, letting my forehead fall against his for a brief moment and then kissing him, for comfort's sake.

"Let's go, yeah?"

Once Bethany set a protection spell around our vehicle, we all set out towards Joy and Connor's safe house, Spike and I in the lead, Faith bringing up the rear. Of course, everyone there could take care of themselves, the weakest link being Xander, with his limited depth perception, though over the past twenty years, he's gotten pretty good at fighting despite the disability. Fred had her Illyria-like powers, Bethany was a top-notch witch, Rita and Faith were seasoned slayers. And Spike and I were vampires. All in all a good team, and one we'd been working with on and off for many years.

Of course, in the beginning, Buffy had Faith's place and Willow Bethany's. But they're gone now, and someone had to take their place.

So, this was my team. We went out into the field whenever things got really bad, often with squads of slayers working with us in tandem. But the others were never part of the core group and more often than not, the seven of us worked on our own. Otherwise, it was just too many people to handle, and too many people to keep quiet for those occasional stealth missions. Hell, sometimes even Spike and I just did these things by ourselves, more so when he was still getting visions.

We hadn't been directly working for the Powers that Were for almost fifteen years, and I found I kind of liked it better that way. We found our own cases, solved our own problems, and didn't have to deal with them remotely controlling our lives. Or setting up the circumstances that got the mother of my child dead. Again.

A few dozen yards in, Spike sniffed audibly and stopped me with a hand on my chest. God, I didn't know what I would do without him. As much as I had loved Buffy, I loved Spike more. He was my anchor, my soul mate, my best friend. And I got way too distracted when he put his hands on me, even after all these years.

Ignoring his touch, I inhaled too, whispering, "Vamps."

"Whole heard of 'em by the sound," Spike agreed softly, his voice in that low tone that sends shivers up my spine.

I turned, making sure Faith caught on before we moved forward carefully. "Fuck," I muttered to Spike. "They're surrounding us."

Suddenly, a figure at the edge of my peripheral vision burst into flames, dusting practically before he knew what had happened. "Remind me," Spike said, bracing for the incoming attack, "never to piss off that woman."

I dodged a punch from a burly-looking vampire, ducking and hitting him as I came up. "She likes gifts," I told my husband. "Chocolate especially."

"Thanks, luv," he replied, changing into his game face and cackling as he dusted one of the attackers, driving a stake into its heart with practiced ease. "I'll keep that in mind."

Since all of the vampires were pretty new, we had them down fairly quickly, with just a few running off to warn their friends.

"Nice work, team!" Faith smirked, clapping her hands together to rid them of vampire-dust. "What say we continue on?"

"Aye, pet," Spike agreed, leading the way more by smell now than by Joy's directions. I put myself step-by-step with him, double checking his twists and turns as we lead the group onward.

Suddenly, Bethany spoke up behind us. The witch was normally pretty soft-spoken and shy, except when she was brimming with power on the battlefield. So now, she bellowed, "There it is!" stopping us vampires in our tracks.

I turned back to the dark-haired girl, power writhing around her, turning her brown eyes black and whipping her long dress around her ankles and asked, "Where, Beth?"

"There's a whole mess of wards," she replied, stumbling forward, unseeing, toward the building on our right. Tilting her head almost like Illyria does when she's curious, Beth stopped walking and stared at the building. I just barely kept myself from jumping when a large cracking boom suddenly tore through the air. "They're gone now."

"Thanks," I told her, carefully touching her shoulder. It's a good idea to make clear to a witch so deep down in the magic that you're an ally. Otherwise, you could get fried like our friend on the battlefield back there.

Spike ran past us, his phone to his ear, saying, "We're here, pumpkin. Just another minute."

I ran to keep up with him, chest clenching in anticipation. I knew Joy had asked me to come, that after three long years, she wanted to see me, but it felt too good to be true. Like, as soon as she saw me, all those old fights would come back and she'd ask me to leave, breaking my heart again. Even though praying's not my style, I prayed that she truly wanted to see me, that she wanted to come home.

When Spike and I reached the steel-plate enforced door, he pulled on the handle, but it was locked. Speaking into his phone again, Spike asked, "You don't have a key under the mat, do ya, luv? No, then? Alright." Turning to me, he said, "We're gonna have to break it down unless we want to wait for Connor to come back."

I shot a questioning glance to Faith, who tapped one ear, where she had a wireless earpiece hidden and said, "No word yet, Ange."

Nodding, I grabbed Spike's phone and said, "Joyce, sweetheart? I need you to keep clear of the door."

"Got it, Dad," she replied, panting a little as she moved. "I'm good. C'mon in."

"Is Daddy invited too?" I asked her, meeting Spike's eyes and disliking the smirk I saw there.

"Yeah, of course. Both of you are invited."

"Thanks," I said, giving the phone back to Spike so he could deal with turning it off. I know mobile phones have been around for thirty years, but I just couldn't get the hang of them when they changed every year, it seemed like. Or, I didn't waste my time figuring them out like my husband did.

"Push or pull?" Faith asked me, eyeing up the door.

"Um," I replied, looking at it, "push."

"Can we use Spike as a battering ram?" Xander asked, and some of the girls laughed.

"Oi," Spike replied, "your head is harder than mine, old man." He'd been very fond lately of pointing out the fact that Xander is aging. Though one has to admit, he's not doing too bad for being in his mid-forties. Watching all the people around us age makes me kind of glad I don't have a reflection and can't be startled every day that I'm not aging along with them.

It's strange befriending humans.

"On three?" Faith asked, ignoring Spike and Xander's spat.

"Always on three," Spike replied for me, setting his stronger shoulder against the door. I adopted the same position behind him while Faith and Rita took positions behind me, hissing when Spike closed the couple inches between us and rubbed his backside against my front.

"Not now, you prick," I whispered in his ear, fighting the urge to bite the back of his neck in punishment.

He grinned at me over his shoulder, replying, "Can't help it, Ange. Love it when you call me 'Daddy'."

Shaking my head, I whispered back, "You're sick, Will. You know that?"

"Mmm," he murmured. "I know."

"Are you two done flirting?" Faith asked, her voice amused and exasperated.

"Yeah," I growled. "Let's do this. One … Two …" We all took a step away from the door, ready to either knock into it with our shoulders, or in the girls' cases, kick it with our feet.

"Three!"

We crashed through the door, me just managing to keep Spike on his feet by grabbing him close at the last second. And then I rushed through the opening, looking for … God, there she was! I ran up to Joyce, stopping just short because I realized she might not want the hug I was going to give her. And then, seeing the hurt hesitation in her eyes, I decided, 'fuck that,' and grabbed her. "I missed you," I told her, feeling Spike rub a hand up and down my back in support. Joy's scent was comfortingly familiar, and even though she felt different, taller, in my arms, I felt it deep in my soul. This was my girl. My daughter.

"Missed you too, Dad," she whispered, the scent of tears suddenly very _present_. "And I'm sorry."

* * *

_And there's the first three chapters. What do you think? Anything really unclear? Any questions, comments or complaints? _

_Not sure when the next update will come, so go ahead and set the story alert if you want to see how this plays out._

_Thanks for reading!_

_~Ptera  
_


	4. Reunion

**No One Can Walk Alone**

Chapter 4 – Reunion

"I missed you too, Dad," I told him, tears springing to my eyes as his big presence surrounded me, strong arms holding tightly, keeping me safe. God, how had I stayed mad at him for so long? How had I convinced myself that Conner and I were better off without him? "And I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" he asked, pulling back a little so he could meet my eyes.

"Yeah," I cried, leaning toward Daddy when he gave me a one armed hug. "I'm sorry I waited so long before I called you. Shit, I'm sorry I even left in the first place!"

"Hey," Dad whispered, pulling me in again, "it's okay. Joyce, it's okay. I'm glad you were looking out for your brother. And I'm sorry, too."

Sighing, I buried my face in his chest and asked, "Really?"

"Peanut," he said, kissing my hair and squeezing me tighter, "I regretted saying those things ten minutes after I said them."

"So," I asked with a slow, sad grin, "does that mean you forgive me for leaving?"

Dad nodded and said, "I'll always forgive you. No matter what. And I'll always love you."

"Right," Daddy said beside us. "Always, always."

Trying to hold back a sob, I pulled back from Dad and threw myself into Daddy's arms, giving him a proper hug for the first time in three long years. "Thank you."

Chuckling, Daddy buried his nose in my neck and inhaled, like he always used to do when I was little, and I found it funny that he didn't have to reach down very far anymore. If at all. "God, luv," he murmured. "Missed you somethin' fierce. And you fucking grew on me," he exclaimed, stepping back, but keeping one hand with mine.

"I guess I have," I agreed. Then, I lowered my voice and whispered at him, "Connor hates it. He says his little sister shouldn't be almost as tall as him."

Both of my fathers laughed, Dad putting his arm around Daddy's shoulders and the other hand on my arm, like he had to keep touching me to make sure I was real. But then, behind me, someone cleared his throat and I remembered that Dad had brought along everyone. So, I turned around, greeted by a whole flock of familiar faces.

"Uncle Xander!" I cried, running up to the man with the eye patch and hugging him. "And Aunt Fred!" "Faith and Rita!" "Bethany, it's good to see you!" I gave each of them hugs, suddenly overwhelmingly relieved to be among family.

"Ah!" Faith cried all of a sudden, tapping on one ear. "They're callin' us in, Angel. Havin' some trouble with the Big Bad."

"How much trouble?" Dad asked, letting go of us and leading the way from my house, expecting everyone to follow.

"Gotta weapon, luv?" Daddy asked me, and I nodded, grabbing a light sword from the cupboard near the door.

"Oh!" I cried, running back into the apartment, "Give me just a sec." I hurried into my room, grabbing my bag and shoving into it anything I couldn't live without. Mom's old bracelet, a picture of me and her together, some of Daddy's old poems, and a drawing of him and Mom that Dad drew. Those were my treasures here, my reminders of family. I might have also grabbed my wallet and a pile of cash that Connor hid in my room and didn't think I knew about.

Slinging the bag over one shoulder and across my body, I picked up my sword again, running to catch up with everyone. I found Daddy and Xander still just outside the busted door, telling them, "Okay. I'm ready."

"Let's catch up, then," Xander said, shooting me an encouraging smile.

Daddy scoffed at Xander, "If you can keep up with us, Fatso!"

"Hey," Xander argued back as we jogged, me leading the way through the paths I knew best. "Just because some of us are mortal and age like _normal_ people…"

"Shh," I said, scenting the air as we moved, and stopping short behind one corner of an old bank building. "They're walking right into a nest!"

"Crap," Xander replied. Bringing his wrist up to his mouth, he said, "Team Alpha, you guys are approaching something bad, according to Joy. Pay attention, people." He listened for a moment before saying, "Shit," under his breath. "Too late. We've gotta go help."

"Come around this way," I said, sneaking towards the fight as best I could. And hey, it was pretty good. I learned everything I know about surviving from two vampires and The Destroyer. And a few more things from Faith, Xander and the rest of the crew.

Suddenly, I heard a woman's scream from up ahead, and I guessed it was Bethany. Turning to the others, my pulse pounding crazily in my ears, I asked, "You hear that?"

"Aye," Daddy replied, urging me with a gesture to keep moving.

"Hear what?" Xander asked in a whisper.

"Bloody useless, this one," Daddy replied with a smirk, following me closely as we approached the fight.

"Damn," I said when I peered around an old burnt-out van that we were hiding behind. "They ran into something worse than vamps." Taking my slingshot out of my bag, along with a sharp stone, I readied my weapon, telling the men behind me, "I don't know their name, but Con and I call them Squelchers. They're big and hairy, and they like to stomp on things."

"Right," Daddy replied, putting one hand on my shoulder as he peeked around the corner. "We better get in there, then. Joy, you give cover?" I nodded, while Daddy turned to Xander, saying, "You pull Beth back here, yeah? She's no good to us flattened."

"Got it," he said, and I wondered why Uncle Xander had taken Daddy's orders so readily. I guess I'd usually seen either Dad or Faith giving the orders and despite how famously Xander and Daddy fought around the castle, the battlefield was not a place for childish squabbles. Believe me, that was one fact Connor and I had learned right quick.

Daddy gave me one last glance to make sure I was ready before hefting his axe and plowing into the fight with a mighty battle cry. Aiming, I shot a stone into one of the demon's faces, hoping I would get an eye. Xander rushed past me, close on Daddy's heels, heading straight for Bethany. One of the Squelchers, knocked down near Rita's feet, got back up and made to lunge at Xander, but I managed to shoot him in the temple, dazing him long enough for the man to get by.

By the time Xand got back to me with Bethany, half of the dozen or so Squelchers were down, and Daddy was grinning bloody murder, covered in guts and other things as he sliced out at the next demon in line. Dad, Fred, Faith, and Rita all held their own against the onslaught and despite the fact that I itched to get out there and join them, I knew I had to stay behind and protect Bethany.

"How're you doing, Beth?" Xander asked her, helping her step around some of the rubble to hide next to me.

"I've been better," She replied, blinking her deep blue eyes a few times and shaking out her hands nervously before rubbing a sore muscle in her shoulder. "But glad I'm not squished."

"Anything you can do to help them out there?" I asked her, watching Dad get clobbered, painfully.

"I don't know," she said breathlessly. "I'm getting tapped out pretty quick. Do these things have any weaknesses I should know about?"

"If they do," I replied, grunting as I took another shot, missing this time and almost hitting Dad in the head, "I don't know about them."

"Looks like we don't have to worry about it," Xander said after a moment, nodding toward the battlefield while I was reloading. Somehow, there was only one demon left standing, and he wasn't looking so good.

"I guess we just plow right on through nasty groups of demons, then," I noted, wishing for about the billionth time that Connor would have agreed to bringing a whole team here, as opposed to just us. Maybe we wouldn't have had our asses handed to us so many times if he'd just get over his hang-ups and let a few slayers join our operation. Stupid boys.

The three of us joined the others, and immediately I said, "We can't go straight for Connor's battle. There's a lot of nasty things out here, and it's going to take hours to get there if we have to fight to stop all of them! Okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Dad replied, holding his hands up defensively. "Lead the way."

"What are the coordinates?" I asked, scanning over the map Faith handed me and planning our route. We'd have to go around the big volcanic pit that wasn't shown on Faith's map, and the major demon spawn hideout in that shopping district. And, yeah, that should work.

"Let's go," I said, crouching low and leading the group back from where they came, instead of further into what Connor and I liked to call "Bruising Way". We passed all the familiar landmarks: Fetid Fountain, Harpy Hall, Blood-loss Boulevard, Rubble Mountain. And then, I could tell by the smell that we were getting close.

The basilisk had a dirty, musty sort of smell that I recognized from earlier in the day, but there was also a strong reek of blood underlying those odors. Oh, God! Who lost so much blood? Was it Connor? Did he finally manage to do himself in? Please, please, please. Please let him be alive!

* * *

Just before the Basilisk's giant fang was going to slice and crush my leg, the creature's head was brutally knocked to the side as someone smashed into it. My eyes still helplessly down to avoid looking at the monster, I inhaled shakily through my mouth and got the taste of, "Slayer."

From the sound of it, there were several of them, hitting the creature, slicing at it, mutilating it, and still it roared, snapping its wicked teeth and trying to meet the eyes of anyone stupid enough to try to get a look at its face. Still shaken and dizzy from being knocked down, I tried to get out from under the fight, but was having a hard time of it. Whenever I moved too much or too fast, the basilisk came after me again, making me roll out of reach. If only I could get to my feet...

"Hey," one of the slayers yelled in my ear, pulling me away from the fight and helping me stand. "You must be Connor! I'm Nyah! Are you okay?"

Glancing up at her, my entire chest clenched and I couldn't breathe. She looked so much like Tammy! The same braided hair, the same smooth dark skin, the same wide nose and big brown eyes, the same haggard smile with that one crooked tooth. And she was Slayer, that familiar scent that meant to me family and love and home. But she was young. Younger than Tam had been when I first met her. It wasn't her.

It could _never_ be her.

One of the slayers screamed off to my right, the scent of her blood tingeing the air and making me sick with the horrible, shivering thrill it sent up my throat. Despite the need to see who it was, to know who was injured, I fought my hardest not to look, to use my other senses to pinpoint the monster, to gauge how well it was moving and how close it was to death.

"Hey!" the not-Tamara yelled again. "Connor? Are you alright?"

"Yeah," I managed to yell back, gaining my bearings quickly now that I could stand. "I'm fine! Let go of me."

The crushing hands around my arm vanished and scanning the ground, I managed to find my sword, ten feet away. Too close to the basilisk to dart in unarmed and get it. even though it was risky, I tried it a couple of times, dancing through the battle unarmed, trying to get my sword only to be pushed back out either by the monster, or by the slayers who thought they knew what they were doing. Then, I caught sight of one of the slayers raising a crossbow, aiming for the monster's head. "No!" I cried, running toward her and clapping a hand on her shoulder. "Not the eyes!"

"Why not?" she growled back, her long red ponytail sailing through the air behind her head as she whipped around to face me in annoyance. "Best way not to get killed, we take out the eyes first."

"I need them!" I cried, grabbing her arm harshly. "I need its eyes intact! Please?"

The woman rotated and tugged her arm out of my grasp with such rage that I was sure I was going to get my ass handed to me, rampaging basilisk or not. But instead, she drew her sword and gave it to me, hilt first. "You've got two minutes before I take its eyes. And I _can_ do it, even without looking."

"I believe you," I replied breathlessly, taking the weapon and getting a sense of its weight and balance. Armed at last! "Thanks."

Now, what was the best way to bring this beast down quickly? I ran through the possible scenarios in my head as I listened to the battle, darting forward a few feet at a time whenever it seemed safe. Maybe? Yeah, that would do. Listening and watching the vague shadows on the ground for just a moment, I geared up and took a running start. Leaping onto the snake's back, I held on tight, shoving and clawing my way up and up towards the base of its skull. I could do this. I could make it all the way up and sever the damn thing's spinal cord. I could do it.

But then, the monster noticed I was there, howling and hissing and trying to bend over on itself to get at me, while at the same time shaking violently so I would fall. I didn't fall. I held on tight, riding that thing like a rodeo cowboy. But my sword did fall, clanking uselessly on the pavement below. Fuck.

Just as I was contemplating just using my fists to bash through the monster's hide and break its bones with my bare, bloody hands, a crossbow bolt zinged a hairsbreadth past my neck and buried itself in the basilisk's spine with a twang. A breath later, another joined it and the monster went down, me with it.

I jumped off at the last moment so I could land on my feet, searching for that damn red-head. She almost– … Hang on a second! That was Joyce holding the crossbow, elbowing the slayer it belonged to as the woman tried to get her weapon back.

Shaking with rage, I picked up my sword and hacked at what passed for the monster's neck, which was no small feat seeing as it came up just past my waist as the basilisk lay dead on the ground. Joyce hurried up to me, boots thumping on the pavement, calling as she did, "It's dead, Con! Give it up!"

"You almost killed me!" I growled back, hacking at the monster one last time before turning toward my sister furiously. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking I'm a better shot than you always assume, Connor!" she sniped back, practically hissing in anger. "I'm thinking you ran off _alone_ and came after this thing without me, so maybe you wouldn't mind getting a little dead! How _could_ you?"

I opened my mouth to yell back at Joyce when I finally realized who was standing behind her.

Angel.

"What are you doing here?" I asked quietly, too upset even to yell.

"I …" he started, moving out from behind Joyce and shooting her a glance. "I came to help."

"You came to help?" I barked, laughing ruefully at the absurd gesture and wiping the basilisk's blood from my hands onto my shirt. "I thought you said this was a waste of time!" Fisting my bloodstained hands in anger, I stepped closer to him, wishing I was taller. "You're not here to _help_, Angel," I snarled. "And I _don't_ _want_ you here."

"I wanted him here!" Joyce broke in.

"Why?" I bellowed, turning on her and flinching away when she tried to touch my arm. "You know everything Joyce! Everything _he_," I pointed angrily at my father, "_said_! How could you?"

"How could you try to leave me like that, Con?" she replied, standing so close that her nose almost touched mine, staring me down from only two inches shorter. "You didn't want to come back, did you? I could _kill_ you for trying something so _stupid_!"

And then she lunged at me, grabbing at my neck as if to throttle me, but Angel stopped her, the big super hero son of a bitch. "Hey!" he cried, hauling her backward by the collar of her jacket like a wayward puppy. "What matters now is that you're both safe."

"Ange!" called a voice, and I instantly recognized it as Spike's, the no-good traitor. We'd been such good friends until he refused to stand up to Angel, until he refused to take my side even though he knew I was right. "We gotta get this one back out and to a doctor if she's gonna make it!"

I turned toward the edge of the battlefield, toward the strongest scent of slayer blood, to see the blonde vampire crouched over a girl, just about holding her bloodied and broken arm together with his bare hands. One of the other slayers crouched beside him, petting the girl's forehead and murmuring into her ear. Tears traced through the dirt and blood on her face, falling onto the pavement below.

Joyce broke Angel's hold on her, grabbing my arm and hissing in my ear, "I love you, Brother, but you've got to get your shit together. That girl is hurt and she could die because of you! Because you were too proud to ask for help."

Knowing she was right, I jerked my arm away from her, turning and coming face to face with not-Tamera. Oh, God! Tam would have been so disappointed in me right now, even though it was our son's life at stake. She knew the value of teamwork. Hell, she taught it to me. And now she was gone and everything was my fault, and we were never getting Danny back.

Pulse pounding, chest clenching, breath too slow to come, I did what I always do when I get overwhelmed.

I ran.

* * *

_A/N: Hey! An update! _

_Don't forget to review and tell me what you thought of this chapter!  
_


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